NCCC to make public assets of Thaksin era ministers
The assets of all cabinet members who served under former premier Thaksin Shinawatra during his five and a half years in power will be revealed to the public on October 20, as part of the investigation into their wealth, a National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC) spokesman said yesterday.
Klanarong Chantik said the NCCC had received reports of assets declarations on 11 occasions from 2001 to 2006 by Thaksin and all of his ministers - including after the formation of new governments and cabinet reshuffles. However, some ministers, who served in the cabinet recently had apparently declared their assets to the NCCC but never revealed them to the public due to the 16-month absence of the NCCC since late May 2005. Those ministers include former deputy prime minister and justice minister Chidchai Vanasatidya, former PM's office minister Suranand Vejjajiva, former natural resources and environment minister Yongyuth Tiyapairat and former finance minister Thanong Bidaya. The NCCC law of 1999 states that Cabinet members must declare their wealth to the NCCC. If they fail to do so or are found to have falsified their reports, they can be banned from assuming political office for five years. In the current political situation, the coup leaders have empowered the NCCC to temporarily withhold or seize assets of politicians if the investigation has found an "unusual" increase in money or assets. But the period will not be longer than one year. Klanarong said that after the Council for Democratic Reform seized power from Thaksin on September 19, it has asked the last Thaksin cabinet to declare their assets within a month as required by the anti-graft law. "Thaksin has no exemption although he is abroad now," Klanarong said, adding the former premier could assign his representative to hand over his asset report to the NCCC.
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